Test Cricket - Information

I have just begun to follow cricket, so there are lots of things that I don't understand. I hope you can help me.

Test Cricket. Only 10 teams are allowed to play test matches: Australia, England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Bangladesh became a Test nation some years ago. How? For which reasons?

These 10 nations are the best in the world, but they are not the only ones where cricket is played. Kenya reached the semifinal in 2003 World Cup: that makes me think that Kenya is a good team. So why cannot Kenya play the test matches? And why is not possible a test match between (for example) Scotland and Namibia?

Elm, he do brood. And Oak, he do hate. But the Willow-man goes walking, If you stays out late.

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kenya will probably be the next team to be granted test match status, the icc are probably reluctant to do so though as they will fear them becoming another bangladesh, and as a consequence the good test sides will have to waste time playing pointless tests againts poor nations, the upcoming England vs Bangaldesh is an example of this, very little benefit will come out of the series (for england anyway) As for scotland and namibia playing tests ? dont be silly.

"Test" cricket is supposed to be cricket played at the very highest level. For this purpose, teams such as Scotland and Namibia are not allowed to play test matches. Even if they do play 3 or 5-day matches, it will not be granted Test-match status as it is not cricket of the highest level.
And realistically, as seen in the ICC Inter-Continental Cup (where countries such as Scotland and Namibia play 3-day cricket), these teams are nowhere near Test level.

Test status, like Andy said, is generally granted to a nation when they show they are capable of competing and maintaining a presence at the highest level of the game. England and Australia were the original nations, from the 1880s, and South Africa joined soon after (but were really, really rubbish).

India, New Zealand and the West Indies were next to join the fray either side of the Second World War - and Pakistan (on independence) became the seventh. Zimbabwe, following a sequence of strong World Cup efforts, became the ninth in 1992.

Bangladesh were granted Test status in 1999 following their defeat of Pakistan at the 1999 World Cup. However it's now fairly widely accepted that the result of that match was a little bit on the suspect side following the match-fixing scandal, and Bangladesh have been roundly thrashed by all and sundry ever since.

Kenya's wonderful run in the World Cup last time out was part of a combination of factors that led to them punching much above their weight - New Zealand refused to go to Kenya, Sri Lanka imploded against the spin of Collins Obuya, and Zimbabwe were in crisis as Mugabwegate hit, resulting in a semi final place unreflective of the quality of their players. Basing a claim for Test status on that alone would be like suggesting Wycombe or Chesterfield should be in the Premiership based on their FA Cup runs to recent years' semi-finals.

Kenyan cricket is beset by corruption, politicking and infighting (as seen in the recent players' strike and dissolution of the KCA) - and their backup players were annihilated by Scotland in the Intercontinental Cup (a series of 3- and 4-day games between the second tier of nations). There is little grassroots structure and no longer form played at domestic level.

Test cricket is indeed played between all those 10 countries you mentioned. The ICC believes that any random two of those countries will provide competitive cricket. All teams eventually play each other on a regular basis.

Kenya indeed did very well in the 2003 World Cup, beating Sri Lanka was huge. But that is One-Day Cricket which is very unpredictable at times. Test cricket is more regular with the results with, generally, the team being more consistent over the five days winning.

Imagine if Namibia or Scotland were to be given Test-status. Sure, they might score a run or maybe take a wicket against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe. But when their time came to play Australia, well... demolition would be a soft word to use.

kenya will probably be the next team to be granted test match status, the icc are probably reluctant to do so though as they will fear them becoming another bangladesh, and as a consequence the good test sides will have to waste time playing pointless tests againts poor nations, the upcoming England vs Bangaldesh is an example of this, very little benefit will come out of the series (for england anyway) As for scotland and namibia playing tests ? dont be silly.

It'll benefit England by giving them more false hope before the ashes :P

As Neil said, capable of competing is a vital factor. It is much tougher to beat a team over 5 days with each team playing two innings than say a 90 minute football match or even a one day international.

For this to be achieved, cricket has to have proper structure in a nation with domestic first class competitions, popularity in a nation and promise for the future for the game. They must show they have the potential of competing at the highest level in a few years even though they may not be able to at the present. It takes time for nations to truly be competitive and has happened with all nations.

I am glad you have started following test cricket. It is wonderful and having watched a lot of sport, I will say test cricket is one of the most pleasurable and exciting things. Nothing like a good competitive test match. Some people tend to believe test cricket is boring because it is stretched over 5 days but it is infact very interesting and exciting having a lot of different aspects to it. Which is why cricket leads to so much of discussion.

First of all. Thank you very much. You have explained me several things. I am Italian. I live in Udine, which is a town in the north-east of Italy (very close to Austria and Slovenia). I am a baseball researcher (and former referee), but in the last months I began to follow cricket. I have purchased some DVDs and I watched some games.

What can I say? Since I know baseball, it wasn't so difficult to understand the basics of cricket, although there are lots of things which are obscure.

For example: I realize that Scotland and Namibia (or Kenya) cannot play a test match for the reasons you have written. But could they play a 5-day match between themselves (without being considered a test match)? Or even a series?

I would like to give you some historical information: in 1867, it was founded a baseball team (the Cincinnati Baseball Club), whose player would be called the Red Stockings. Two years later, this team played 68 games against other teams coming from all USA. The Cincinnati Red Stockings won 67 games with 1 tie. The Captain of this team was David Wright, who was one of the greatest CRICKET player from Boston.